Employment (Amendment No. 5) (Jersey) Law 2010 (Appointed Day) Act 201-

Information about the publication of Ministerial Decisions

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A decision made 4 October 2010 regarding: Employment (Amendment No. 5) (Jersey) Law 2010 (Appointed Day) Act 201-.

Decision Reference: MD-S-2010-0061
Decision Summary Title :	DS - Redundancy Law App Day		Date of Decision Summary:	4 October 2010
Decision Summary Author:	Policy Principal		Decision Summary: Public or Exempt?	Public
Type of Report: Oral or Written?	Written		Person Giving Oral Report:	N/A
Written Report Title :	WR - Redundancy Law App Day		Date of Written Report:	4 October 2010
Written Report Author:	Policy Principal		Written Report : Public or Exempt?	Public
Subject: Appointed Day Act to enact redundancy payments legislation
Decision(s): The Minister decided to lodge the draft Employment (Amendment No. 5) (Jersey) Law 2010 (Appointed Day) Act 201-, to bring into force specified articles of the Employment (Amendment No. 5) (Jersey) Law, 2010 on 1 January 2011.
Reason(s) for Decision: Following Privy Council sanction on 21 July 2010, the Employment (Amendment No. 5) (Jersey) Law 2010 was registered by the Royal Court on 6 August 2010. The principal purpose of the Law is to amend the Employment (Jersey) Law 2003 to give qualifying employees the right to a redundancy payment. Certain provisions relating to redundancy are not proposed for enactment at this stage pending further amendments that will be proposed in respect of the collective consultation requirements. The legislation has been subject to significant consultation and guidelines and training sessions have been provided by the Jersey Advisory and Conciliation Service to advise employers and employees prior to enactment. The Minister considers that there has been an adequate period of notice to allow the law to be enacted on 1 January 2011.
Resource Implications: There are no financial or manpower implications
Action required: Policy Principal to request the Greffier of the States Greffe to arrange to lodge ‘au Greffe’ the Projet on 5 October 2010, for States debate on 19 October 2010.
Signature:		Position: Minister
Date Signed:		Date of Decision (If different from Date Signed):

Employment (Amendment No. 5) (Jersey) Law 2010 (Appointed Day) Act 201-

Accompanying report - Employment (Amendment No. 5) (Jersey) Law 2010 (Appointed Day) Act 201-

This Appointed Day Act would amend the Employment (Jersey) Law 2003 from 1 January 2011 to insert new provisions that relate mainly to redundancy.

The Act would bring into force Articles 1, 2, 3, 4, and 7 of the Employment (Amendment No. 5) (Jersey) Law 2010, as well as 60A-60E and 60K–60M of Article 5.

The effect is that employees who have at least two years’ continuous employment with an employer would have the right to receive a redundancy payment from that employer equivalent to one week’s pay in respect of each full year of employment with that employer. In addition, the statutory minimum periods of notice on termination of employment would be reduced from the current maximum of 16 weeks, to a maximum of 12 weeks notice after 12 or more years’ service.

Certain provisions would not be brought into force at this stage: Article 6 and the remaining new articles provided by Article 5. These relate to collective redundancy situations, the election of employee representatives, protective awards and the removal of the upper age limit, which would be enacted at a later date, following further consultation.

Article 5; 60F and 60H - The Employment Forum presented a recommendation to the Social Security Minister on the matter of consultation with employees in collective redundancy situations and the Minister has reviewed the provisions as drafted.

The Minister proposes that the collective consultation requirements should be triggered when an employer proposes 12 or more employees for redundancy in a 30 day capture period, irrespective of whether the employees are represented by a trade union or not. The Minister balanced the Forum’s recommendation against the wishes of the States Assembly and proposes this pragmatic solution.

As recommended by the Forum, the protective award where an employer fails to consult with union representatives and elected staff representatives would be up to 9 weeks pay. The Minister also approved the recommendation that a claim for a protective award would only be taken to the Tribunal by union representatives and elected staff representatives, rather than individuals, other than where representatives have not been appointed, but should have been.

The Employment (Amendment No. 6) (Jersey) Law 201-, lodged on 5 October 2010, sets out the proposed amendments and the Forum’s full recommendation.

Article 6 - The Minister proposes to temporarily withhold the removal of the upper age limit on the right to claim unfair dismissal. Currently, the right to claim unfair dismissal is not available to an employee who, on or before the effective date of termination of employment, has reached ‘retirement age’; either the normal retirement age for the position within the undertaking, or when pensionable age has been reached under the 1974 Social Security Law.

Before removing the upper age limit on unfair dismissal, the Minister wishes to review all issues again in the light of the probability that age discrimination legislation will not be in force in the near future. In the UK, the upper age limit on unfair dismissal was removed when age discrimination legislation was introduced.

The new UK coalition Government is consulting on a proposal to remove the ‘default retirement age’ from October 2011, including consideration of the management of dismissals and any unintended consequences. The Minister wishes to await the outcome of that consultation, without further delaying the introduction of the right to redundancy payments.

The Minister is satisfied that, subject to States approval, an appointed day of 1 January 2011 will give sufficient notice for the introduction of the Employment (Amendment No. 5) (Jersey) Law 2010.

Financial and manpower implications

There are no additional financial or manpower implications arising from this proposition. The existing budget for employment relations, which includes the cost of providing the Employment Tribunal and the Jersey Advisory and Conciliation Service, is sufficient for the implementation of this legislation.